Ouya US sales “relatively light for a new console”

Ouya sales in the US have been “relatively light for a new console”, according to the NPD Group’s monthly reports.

According to NPD and its sales tracker, the Kickstarter-funded Android console has only received a lukewarm response in the US, reflected in its sales figures.

“Retail sales for Ouya (not counting direct sales through ouya.tv) and were relatively light for a new console", said NPD analyst Liam Callahan. “This may be due to the lack of a major marquee title driving consumers to seek out the console, low awareness due to Ouya being a new brand, or low inventory volume due to manufacturing constraints.”

Released last month, the Ouya console started as a Kickstarter campaign, managing to raise nearly $8.6 million or £5.7 million for its design and production.

The company will match the funds generated by any Kickstarter campaign for an exclusive Ouya game launched between August 9 2013 and August 10 2013 that pledges between $50,000 (£32,900) and $250,000 (£164,000).

Despite its initial success, the Ouya console’s launch sales don’t seem to be as strong as expected.

For June, the Nintendo 3DS remained the best-selling videogame hardware device for the second month in a row. Nintendo claims its handheld console has sold nearly 225,000 this month.

The Xbox 360 is still the top home console, having shifted 140,000 units last month.

Overall hardware sales collectively accumulated $142 million, which unfortunately showed a 30 per cent loss over last year’s figures. This may well be due to the announcement of the Xbox One and PS4, meaning consumers are less likely to buy a new console before the next-gen versions are released.